Last year, the Connecticut General Assembly enacted legislation creating new requirements for boards of education relating to school security and safety. Included in these requirements is the obligation that each school within a school district develop and implement a school security and safety plan based on standards developed by the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS) within the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP), in consultation with the Connecticut Department of Education. These standards have now been released, and DESPP/DEMHS has also developed a school template on which boards of education may base their school security and safety plans. Boards of education are reminded that they must have in place for each school within the district both a school security and safety plan and a school security and safety committee by the school year beginning July 1, 2014.

The standards and template may be found here: